


Late?

by andygreen



Category: Chicago Med
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, happiness for april forever, let them be happy, mention of miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 14:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20154955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andygreen/pseuds/andygreen
Summary: A continuation of April and Ethan’s conversation in the season 4 finale.





	Late?

“I’m late.”

“Late?”

“My period,” April clarifies and all Ethan can do is stare at his girlfriend in shock. It made sense, she didn’t have any other plans tonight so it wasn’t like she was late to meet up with someone. But he also didn’t want to jump to conclusions, which is also why he didn’t react as if it was a positive pregnancy test. With each passing second, April feels her heart tightening and the chicken from dinner suddenly feels like hot lava churning in her stomach. She didn’t know what she expected him to say… or not say… but this was not it; the silence was not it.

After what felt like an eternity, Ethan finally took a breath and recovered from the initial shock. In reality, it was no more than a minute. But one minute can feel very, very long when you tell your significant other that you might be pregnant.

“We’ll talk about this at home,” he finally offers and she doesn’t know what to think about that. Is that bad? Why do they have to wait until they were at home? A million questions are swirling through April’s mind and Ethan must be able to read her thoughts because he brings his hands up to rest on her shoulders. The warmth and weight offers April a bit of comfort that brings her back down to Earth, back to the moment. “Let’s just get through this dinner. There’s enough going on here with Emily and her baby and her baby’s father and his wife and their daughter,” he says after another few seconds, still trying to process this idea his sister came up with.

The situation wasn’t so weird. A little unconventional by Ethan’s standards but this was a new, modern solution that actually had quite a bit of potential to work. Emily seemed optimistic and happy, as did Bernie and his wife and their daughter. He didn’t need to worry about his sister so much, she would find a way to make this work. He needed to worry about himself and his girlfriend and a possible little being growing inside of her.

April nodded and the couple went back to cleaning up the dishes from dinner, working together in a tense silence that was only broken by the sound of running water and dishes clinking together. She didn’t want to wait until they got home, she wanted to talk about it now. She’s already waited a few days to say something to be absolutely sure it wasn’t just a fluke. He had a point though. Talking about such a heavy situation at someone else’s home was not the right time or place.

  
  
  
  
  


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The ride home had been tense and quiet, any attempt at small talk was quickly lost on them. So, yeah, Ethan really wanted to wait until they were in the comfort and privacy of their own home. The door hadn’t even closed and the door wasn’t even locked when Ethan asked, “how late?”

“Two weeks,” April answered hesitantly, her voice quieter now. It wasn’t all that long but she knows he would have wanted to know sooner, or she thinks he would have wanted to know sooner. She finished closing and locking the door to the apartment, something Ethan clearly wasn’t concerned with anymore. She should have more information for him. She should have more than just being two weeks late… a home pregnancy test, at least.

“I’ll schedule an appointment with an OB-GYN tomorrow, I’ll get you in this week,” he stated, already pulling out his phone to set a reminder to call tomorrow morning as soon as the scheduling office opened. She set her purse down, took off her shoes and picked them up to put them away in the closet. After her miscarriage, she had been scared to be pregnant again and the idea of going to her doctor was making her throat tight.

She didn’t respond, she just went into their bedroom to put her shoes away and change out of her clothes into pajamas. Shaky as she moved, April couldn’t stop thinking of the last time she was pregnant: the excitement, the happy tears, the hope for their future, the picture perfect idea of her holding her baby in a rocking chair, followed by the feeling that something was wrong, the pain, the tears, the hurt, and the grieving. She desperately clutched at the hem of the pajama shirt she just put on, it was all she could do not to breakdown. Beginning to zone out, to lose herself in her mind, she started to breathe more shallowly and her eyes began to burn with newly forming tears. There was no way she could stay there long, Ethan would come into their room eventually.

“April?” Ethan asked after watching her stare blankly at the open closet, unmoving, while he changed into his own pajamas. He moved over to the closet to drop his clothes into the hamper and try again to capture her attention. After a few more seconds, he took hold of her upper arms and guided her to sit down on the edge of their bed. “Hey, April? Look at me. What’s going on?” he asked as he knelt down at the foot of the bed in front of her. His concern was growing exponentially, it was rare to see her in such a state.

April refocused her gaze to meet Ethan’s eyes and she began to come back to the moment. She now noticed his hands holding hers, prompting her fingers to release the shirt between them. “What if- what if it happens…” April began to ask but trailed off, a few tears spilling down her cheeks.

Ethan tried his best to comfort her. He offered reassuring words while holding her close, giving her the time to vent out her fears and cry until she was too tired to keep going. And when she was done, he got her situated in bed with a glass of water to rehydrate. In the morning, he would call and schedule an appointment, two days later they would go to the appointment together and find out that there was - in fact - a baby in there. Her fears would later dissipate when she heard his heartbeat and everything would come together perfectly when she and Ethan held him in their arms nine months after that night in Emily, Bernie, and Ashley’s kitchen.


End file.
